Ipod Video (5th Gen) No Sound / Heavy Static - Read This! - Quick Fix Found

I have the same problem. Guess what? My warranty expired in March, last month. It's now one month later. **. All is well with the world one day, driving happily along listening to my ipod, and then I get the crackling noises. I thought it was the headphones or the cable or the headphone jack, so I took it into an Apple store. After a couple days, they said it was working fine and that there was no problem with it. No charge. So then I get in my car and drive away, it works fine for a day. Then I take it back and tell them it's working intermittently and needs to be fixed. The tech replaced the headphone jack and discovered that it didn't work. He called me and said the LOGIC BOARD was bad. Just great, since that's the most difficult thing to replace. He said that it would be so expensive to fix, I might as well buy a new Ipod. OUCH!

So I spend the rest of my day today debating what to do. I finally found this page after a long, extensive search as I was performing a full restore where I strip the hard drive to the Ipod and put all my music back on.

A couple notes...

1. I also noticed this issue of the ipod seeming to work better in cold than heat. And there was an earlier post about how the cold might be causing a connection to set into place on the logic board.

2. Indeed, I pressed on the right lower region next to the scroll wheel and found that everything started working... Although I don't know what I would do to fix the connection permanently.

Obviously, this loose chip on the logic board is a design flaw, and I am pretty hopping mad that this flaw is so common with other Ipod buyers. I don't know about you guys, but I paid $350 for mine, and I'm pretty **ed at the prospect of buying a new mp3 player a year and one month later. Applecare? Are you kidding me?

If my broken Ipod were the result of my own mistreatment of the thing or throwing it off a cliff or submerging it in water, that's one thing. But this is a design flaw. I think Apple has a duty to replace the logic boards on these defective Ipods regardless of warranty status. It's bad business to wrangle someone into paying $350 for a product that is destined to fall apart due to a design flaw.

I don't know what to do now. All my music is on itunes, so I'm stranded and have to have an apple product unless I want to spend a ridiculous amount of time and effort converting file formats.

And if I send my ipod in to trade up for a new one, I'm likely to get less than $50 for my $350 investment. What a bunch of **.

I'm totally hosed. I don't know if Zune is any better, but this seriously has me thinking about a switch.

Apple, _*YOU NEED TO SERVICE THESE DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS THAT ARE A RESULT OF POOR DESIGN.*_ Find a way to solder this chip back on the board without replacing the whole logic board, and it won't even be that expensive. I'd gladly pay $50 for some stooge to solder the piece back on.

Sincerely,
Stranded on an Island with no Portable Media

Same problem as everyone else on this message board. When I press the bottom right corner, the ipod works. I have no idea what to do as I've had my ipod for 19 months. I guess I should be glad that it lasted a year and a half. Nevertheless, I'm so upset at apple, especially since I have spent so much money on their products. I have bought ipods for family and friends as gifts, i have a macbook pro, and I take extreme care of my goods. There is definitely a flaw with their product but highly doubt they will do anything to take care of their customers.

Same problem for me as well. 5th gen video.. 19 months old.

Apple store quoted me $180 to send it in.

Heh. I broke down and bought a new 80 GB iPod. Getting a rebate check in a couple weeks from the government. I weighed all my options. I could pay around $150 to get a new logic board installed, but then the darn thing might break again somewhere else. Not worth it. I'm beginning to think that portable MP3 players might have a certain lifespan, then you just need to replace them.

The new generation of iPods have some new features and software that I like. I was sure to get a protective plastic coat over the new one because the old one got scratched up bad.

This is by no means an ad for apple. I'm so screwed if I had to change brands due to copyrights and all that crap, that I'm shackled to iPod. For people who buy Ipods and think, "Hey, I've got the MP3 player part of my life handled and I'll never buy another," realize that this will probably not be the case.

I just wish Apple took a hint and made a logic board that didn't **ing break like clockwork right after the warranty wears out. Thanks a lot, you **oles.

I am currently having the same problem with my 14 month old Ipod. I guess I never read the small print about keeping the Ipod in the fridge after warranty expires. That is the only way it will work and even then i can only get 3.5 songs out of it. ***?

I have the same problem as well. It's a IPod-video 60Gb and it's 2 years old ..

😟

Thanks for the tip Pinching the bottom.
Before that, there was no sound output at all..

Y'all want to know what made me post this message? PhillyPhan. I was looking for answers just like everyone else on this message board about my wife's sorry iPod, which "coincidentally" started behaving in the same manner as everyone else's on this board (the nerve of that guy or gal). I wanted to let everyone know that I am yet one more victim of this design flaw. I press on the bottom right corner and static-music. As I am typing this, the music crackled and is playing fine...??? I know it will not last and also that this post will fall on deaf ears, i.e., Apple. I can hear it now, "You can still use it as a photo album, geez"! I paid 250 for this hunk of tin and expected many years use out of it (call me naive). I don't know yet if I want to waste one moment of my precious life dismantling this thing or just use it as skeet. If I take it apart and figure out how to fix it, I will post my findings. I am pretty good at fixing stuff, but don't hold your breath. Best wishes everybody...

Well, I took the thing apart. When I got to the top working my screwdriver around it, I heard a crack...there went the screen. I cracked the top right portion of it. Anyway, I saw the little chip that may be the problem, but also may be the board itself cracked. I was so disgusted about cracking the screen, I got up, showed my wife what I had done, then went to the garbage and bid it good riddance. I told myself I'll just buy her another one and it will not be an apple product. Word of mouth aint gonna help 'em none, either. Hope y'all have better results...later.

this blows. although i feel i've had a good run with this ipod, it still ***** that it just ceases to work all on its own. it should have just died on one of the hundreds of times I dropped the thing.

so will a small clamp do the job.. or does that eventually give out too?

Same problem, pinching works, usually just slightly to the right and below the "FF" button next to the clickwheel, but on the case. Out of warranty, so I opened 'er up and probed contacts amd board but no luck. Would be interested if any self-repairs were successful. Or, I could just keep it next to the cheap beer in the fridge 🙂

I just started having this problem today with my year and half old 30gig video. I tried all the 5R's stuff to no success and found this thread after that didn't work. The pinching did work. I pushed around on a couple spots and it eventually kept working after i released pressure. That was about an hour ago, and so far it's still playing. We'll see how long that holds out. I certainly don't make the kind of money to run out and buy one of these things every year and a half, and i was pretty lucky to pull off this one. Is $250 worth a year and a half of ipod? Not on my end.
Is $180 or so seeming like the average for fixing this problem? Has anyone had one back from repair long enough to see if the problem is recurring?

Message was edited by: surco

So I bought a 30 gig iPod video off of craigslist. My first time doing any business through craigslist so I was a little bit skeptical. Sure enough the iPod showed up at my doorstep with no audio. I informed the seller and he claimed it worked when it left his house. He is a liar and that is a whole other story. Point is.... I researched the issue and found out that I now have the same problem as all of you. There is hope though!!

Some of you may have called Apple and were told about the repair fee. Do this: ask to speak to customer relations. Tell them your situation and explain to them that you are incredibly disappointed in Apple products and this should not happen. Tell them you read all about the countless others that have had the same problem and it is obviously a manufacturer's defect. The trick to apple customer relations is to walk the fine line of politeness and assertiveness. If you are too nice they'll treat you like a push over... but if you are too much of a jerk they will tell you to screw off.

I did it with my cracked iPhone and got a new one sent free of charge (instead of the 249 fee) and just today I sent my 30 gig iPod off in the box they sent to my house. The lady said there will be no charge and that more than likely they'll just send me a new one. Since they dont make the 30 gig anymore I'm assuming I'll be getting an 80 gig classic. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Point is.... don't let Apple push you around. It is possible and it has been done, by me... twice now.

Let me know how it all works out! and feel free to email me at xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx if you want to know anymore info of what was all said.

Thanks!!!





<Edited by Moderator>

well, after squeezing mine and getting it to stay on, it continued to play for maybe 27 hours. now the audio cuts out pretty randomly, never get more than half an hour of play, and the spot to squeeze on mine is now under the scroll wheel.
I tried having a discussion with customer support but I'm just not getting any friendly or understanding help there, just quotes on getting it fixed and reminders that i can trade it for 10% off a new ipod purchase. i'm not doing this again though.
just finished converting my itunes songs to a format i can play on any device, and i will be picking up a non-apple player real soon.

Dude, if you hate I-Pod so much.....what are you doing here on the discussion boards? You obviously have some apple product, and if not, then your only here to create static of your own.
If you don't have anything constructive to say, then go to the Zune site and bother the people there.
We're trying to get things done here. I see nothing wrong with holding a company accountable for problems with their products.
I agree that things go bad over time, but the things will never get better if the company isn't informed of the problem, then if they are informed and choose to do nothing about a common (among many people) problem, then they don't care too much about their customer base, and that base has a right to be upset.

Many who cannot get their issue resolve probably WILL go to another company, but your blathering isn't helping the discussed problem.

Hi I am getting the same problem with my i-pod also from the looks of all the posts it sees like a defect problem. Squeezing works, but apple should recall these because its an obvious problem. Hey APPLE FIX IT!!!!